INDEX

Abel, John

Acetylcholine: accepted as neurotransmitter; accumulating evidence of secretion; action on muscle or nerve; activation of skeletal muscles; Barger’s extraction of, from ergot; as brain neurotransmitter; Dale’s failure to speculate on; Dale’s reawakened interest in; Dale’s work with; doubt of presence in Dixon’s experiments; duration of diminution; evanescence, rapid degradation; excitation of Renshaw cells; Feldberg’s work on; Gaskell’s study of leeches; inhibition by physostigmine and ergotamine; inhibition of heart rate; investigations by Hunt; little early interest in; as Loewi’s “Vagusstoff”; mimicking effects of muscarine and nicotine; as naturally occurring, Dale’s rejection of idea; neurophysiologists disputing role of; proof as natural substance; proof of secretion at sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglia synapses; proof of secretion by spinal nerves; proof of secretion by vagus nerve; reproducing parasympathetic responses; role of leeches in detection of; Vogt’s work on

Acetylcholine active sites

Adrenal gland

Adrenaline: action on beta receptors; blocking effects with extracts of ergot; Cannon’s emergency “fight or flight” theory; Cannon’s suspicion of mediating substance; Cannon’s use of denervated heart to detect; Cannon’s work on; cocaine-enhanced response to; early experiments with adrenal extracts; early synthesis efforts; effects comparable to stimulation of sympathetic nerve; Elliott and sympathetic nerves; Elliott hypothesizing secretion of; Elliott on storage of; Hoskins’ work on; Langley’s work with; Loewi’s hesitation in assuming role for; mimicking responses of nerves; observed effects; Vogt’s work on

Adrenal medulla; secretions of two substances

Adrenergic receptors

Adrenochrome

Ahlquist, Raymond

Allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock, and histamine

Amino acids

Animals in research and antivivisectionists

Anti-anxiety drugs

Antibody formation

Anti-psychotic drugs

Antivivisectionists

Asher, Leon

Atomic bomb

Atropa belladonna

Atropine

Autonomic nerve fibers

Autonomic nervous system: cholinergic or adrenergic synapses; description of; Gaskell’s contributions; origin of term; parasympathetic division; sympathetic division

Autoreceptors

Axlerod, Julius

Axons

Bacq, Zénon: attempt to dissuade Cannon from two-sympathin theory; Cannon’s obituary; on lack of techniques for investigating brain neurotransmitters; on meeting Loewi; on neurophysiologists’ opposition to chemical synaptic transmission; photo of; on physiologists versus pharmacologists; work with sympathin

Bain, W. A.

Baking soda

Bard, Philip

Barger, George

Bayliss, William

Bernard, Claude

Bismuth subnitrate

Blaming the Brain; The Truth About Drugs and Mental Health (Elliot Valenstein)

Blood clotting time

Blood pressure: and histamine; increase; and wound shock

Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, and Rage (Walter Cannon)

Bowditch, Henry Pickering

Brain tissue implantation proposal

Brodie, Bernard “Steve”

Bronk, Detlev

Brooks, Chandler McC.

Brown, George Lindor

Brücke, Ernst von

Bülbring, Edith

Bungarotoxin

Burroughs Wellcome and Company

Butler, Edward

Calcium

Cannon, Colbert

Cannon, Cornelia James

Cannon, Walter Bradford, personal biographical information: active and productive beyond retirement age; as affectionate father; attempt to help Loewi in Nazi custody; chairing committee on use of animals in research; death in 1945 at; description of Brahmin classmates; family background and education; friend of Elliott; helping Pavlov; instructorship in physiology; interest in people of different nationalities and customs; interest in social issues; interest in “voodoo death”; involvement in social causes; marriage; obituaries by Dale and Bacq; photos of; popularity of public lectures; promotion to department chairman and professorship in physiology; as Republican; resignation from congregational church; respect for working class people; on science and free interchange of students and ideas; service on National Research Committee; on social stability; on Soviet Union; support of Republicans in Spain; teaching technique, inspiring, unpretentious manner; teaching technique, proposal for case method of; use of home for children’s school; visits to China, Japan, Siberia, and Soviet Union; work on community projects; writings in later years

Cannon, Walter Bradford, work-related biographical information: bogged down in controversy; comparison to Loewi’s and Dale’s experimental techniques; conclusion of secretion by liver; defense of chemical mediation; favoring broad, integrating concepts; grant from Rockefeller Foundation; near miss at proof of neurohumoral secretions; Nobel Prize, continued nominations for; Nobel Prize eludes; overlooking evidence of chemical mediation; practicing integrative physiology; prolific generation of ideas for research; rejection of neurohumoral secretions for smooth muscles; two-sympathin theory; use of denervated heart to detect adrenaline; work on emotional stimulation of adrenal secretions; work on head trauma; work on mechanical factors in digestion, peristalsis; work on stress, adrenal activity, and pathology; work on thyroid gland; WWI work on shock

Carbon monoxide

Cardiac nerve

Carlsson, Arvid

Cell theory

Chagos, Carlos

Champlain, Jacques de

Chemical synaptic transmission (neurohumoral secretions): acceptance by Eccles; Cannon’s defense of; Cannon’s near miss at proof; Cannon’s rejection for smooth muscles; Dale’s Principle, Dale’s Law; difficulties of observation; doubts of speed of transmission; Elliott and question of credit for first suggestion of; evidence dependent on techniques and instruments; existing outside autonomic nervous system; identifying chemical nature of; ignored in physiological psychology textbook; influencing at greater distances than electrical; Kahn’s apparatus and Bain’s modification; lack of general acceptance of theory; Langley’s near miss at correct guess; Loewi’s dream of experiment; opposition and disputes over Loewi’s data and conclusions; opposition and vigorous disputation for years; opposition by neurophysiologists; Parker’s theory of; from persistent skepticism to general acceptance; problem of origination; proof of secretion at synapses between neurons; slow emergence of theory; use of frogs in detection of; Vogt’s work on; von Euler’s proof of; see also History of discovery of chemical transmission; Neurotransmitters in the brain; War of the Soups and the Sparks

Chlorpromazine

Choline

Cholinesterase

Chromatophores

Clark, Alfred

Cocaine

Codeine

Cohen, Jonathan

Compound microscope

Curare

Cushing, Harvey

Dale, Henry Hallett, personal biographical information: consideration for others; death in 1968 at; on development of atomic and hydrogen bombs; as director, trustee, chairman, and president of various prestigious institutions; family background and education; friendship with Feldberg; heading Wellcome Laboratories; heading Wellcome Trust Fund; helping German scientists escape Nazis; helping Loewi in Nazi custody; helping others in need; on Henry Wellcome; honorary membership in Physiological Society; invitation to Feldsberg to leave Germany; lecture and offer from Johns Hopkins; marriage; meets Loewi; as mentor; need for financial support in school; obituary for Cannon; photos of; as prolific writer; reply to Cannon’s congratulations on Nobel Prize; retiring from laboratory and experimental work; softened critique of Rosenblueth

Dale, Henry Hallett, work-related biographical information: articles accepted for Journal of Physiology; on Cannon’s contributions; collaborative work environment fostered by; comments on noradrenaline (norepinephrine); as conservative empiricist, hesitant to speculate beyond facts; criticism of two-sympathin theory of Cannon and Rosenblueth; decision against university appointment; on Dixon’s contribution; on Eccles’ work; on Elliott; failure to make theoretical leap to nerve secretion; fortunate career choice of research in pharmacology; foundational discoveries; on free and open science; heading committee on drug standardization; joining Wellcome lab; move to Institute for Medical Research; Nobel Prize, nominating Loewi for; Nobel Prize with Loewi; praise of Eccles; reason for leaving Wellcome; reawakened interest in acetylcholine; studies of secretin and insulin; work on ergot fungus; work on international standardization of drugs; work with acetylcholine; WWI work on secondary wound shock and histamine

Dale’s Principle, Dale’s Law

Darwin, Charles

Davenport, Horace

Demethylation

Dendrites

Denervation supersensitivity

Depression

Dixon, Walter E.: antivivisectionists; doubt of acetylcholine’s presence in experiments; fear of criticism; on liberation of endogenous substances; praise and skepticism from Dale; studies of addiction and addictive drugs; theorizing on chemical substances in drug interactions; work on chemical mediation between vagus nerve and heart; work on humoral factor secreted by vagus nerve; work with mescal and hallucinogens

Dopamine

Drugs: action on cell membrane; additive, Dixon’s work with; anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic; Dale’s work on international standardization; “magic bullet” concept; proofs of effectiveness; psychotropic; sympathomimetic and parasympathomimetic

Drug studies

Du Bois-Reymond, Emil

Eccles, John: conversion to chemical synaptic transmission; election to Royal Society, knighthood, and Nobel Prize; as leading neurophysiologist; as leading opponent of chemical synaptic transmission; move to U.S. and retirement to Switzerland; opposition due to heart’s short latency response; opposition to cholinergic transmission; photo of; praised by Dale; work in England, Australia, and New Zealand

Ehrlich, Paul

Electrical synaptic transmission: found to exist as exception; vigorous disputation for years; see also War of the Soups and the Sparks

Electric fish Torpedo marmorata

Electron microscope

Electrophoresis

Electrophysiology

Elion, Gertrude Bell

Eliot, Charles William

Elliott, Thomas Renton: clinical work and teaching; Dale’s praise of; friend of Cannon; hypothesizing secretion of adrenaline; Loewi’s meeting with; question of credit for first suggestion of chemical synaptic transmission; on storage of adrenaline; work on treatment of war-related injuries; work with adrenaline and sympathetic nerves; work with Langley

Emergency “fight or flight” theory of Cannon

Emotions: Cannon’s interest in; James-Lange theory of; thalamic theory of

Engelhart, Erich

Enkephalins

Epinephrine

Ergotamine

Ergot fungus

Ergotoxine

Eserine (physostigmine): alkaloid from Calabar bean; blocker of cholinesterase; enhancing parasympathetic nerve response; enhancing skeletal muscle responses; evidence of acetylcholine as chemical transmitter; in leech muscle preparation; Loewi’s use of

Evolution, theory of

Excessive eating (hyperphagia)

Feldberg, Wilhelm: contribution to Dale’s prize-winning work; death in 1993 at; family background and education; favoring chemical transmission in brain; friendship with Dale; leech muscle technique; persecution by Nazis; photo of; positions in England, Australia; work on acetylcholine; work on histamine

Fessard, Albert

“Fight or flight” theory of Cannon

Finger, Stanley

Flexner, Simon

Fluorescent staining technique

Forel, August-Henri

Froelich, Alfred

Froelich Syndrome

Fulton, John

Furchgott, Robert

GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid)

Gaddum, John

Ganglia

Gas chromatography

Gaskell, Walter Holbrook

Gerard, Ralph

Glutamate

Glycine

Golgi, Camillo

Golgi-cell hypothesis of inhibition

Golgi stain

Gorgas, William

Greengard, Paul

Hamilton, William D.

Head trauma

Heart rate: excitation; inhibition by acetylcholine; inhibition by muscarine; inhibition, Loewi’s work on

Histamine: as brain neurotransmitters; causing decrease in blood pressure; Dale’s work on, during WWI; extraction by Barger; Feldberg’s work on; proof of existence in body, origin of term

History: approaches to problems versus specific lessons; knowledge as stimulant; qualified uses of

History of discovery of chemical transmission: differences in personality affecting; general unfamiliarity with; origins and development; as science and biography; see also War of the Soups and the Sparks

Hitchings, George H.

Hökfelt, Tomas

Homeostasis

Hormones

Hoskins, Roy

Hughes, John

Hunt, Reid

Hutchinson, Alfred

Hydrogen bomb

Hyman, Albert

Hyperphagia (excessive eating)

Hyperthyroidism

Immunology

“Inclusive fitness” theory

Inhibition, hypothesis of

Interneurons

Ion channels, transmitter-gated

James, Cornelia

James-Lange theory of emotions

James, William

Jennings, Herbert Spencer

Johns Hopkins

Kahn, R. H.

Kandel, Eric

Katz, Bernard

Kety, Seymour

Kosterlitz, Hans

Krayer, Otto

Kuffler, Stephen

Kymograph drums

Labor (childbirth), inducement with ergot

Laidlaw, Peter

Langley, John Newport: attracting outstanding students; at Cambridge; collaboration with Elliott; description of receptor substances; editor of Journal of Physiology; as exacting, hypercritical instructor; impatience with speculation; praise of Gaskell; remembered for physiological studies; study of nicotine; work on autonomic nervous system; work with adrenaline; work with Elliott; work with nicotine

Learning and memory formation

Leeches, role in detection of acetylcholine

Leeman, Susan E.

Levi-Montalcini, Rita

Lewandowsky, Max

Lindquist, Margit

Lissák, Kálmán

Liver

Loewi, Otto, winning Nobel Prize with Dale

Loewi, Otto, personal biographical information: artistic, dramatic, risk-taking temperament and interest in arts; awards, honors, and (stolen) bronze bust; Dale nominating for Nobel Prize; death in 1961 at; family background and education; as German refugee; life in U.S.; marriage; meets Dale; meets Elliott; persecution by Nazis; photos of; separation from wife in 1938 Austria; visit to Starling’s laboratory

Loewi, Otto, work-related biographical information: dream idea for experiment on neurohumoral secretions; finding evidence of neurohumoral secretions; focused research catalyzed by criticism; hesitation in assuming role for adrenaline; limits to willingness to speculate; professorship in pharmacology; on psychology of creativity in science; risky initial claim of secretion detection, focused follow-through; skepticism of transmission in striated muscle; speculation on role of muscarine; speculative leap and Nobel Prize; as teacher; to University of Vienna; work as assistant doctor; work in pharmacology lab; work on drugs affecting vagus nerve; work on proteins and amino acids

Lovett, Robert

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)

McLennan, Hugh

“Magic bullet” concept of drugs

Mass spectrometry

Mathematics

Mayo, William

Memory formation and learning

Messenger molecules

Meyer, Hans Horst

Microscope: compound; electron

Miller, Neal

Minz, Bruno

Morphine

Moser, Albert

Motor endplate

Muscarine

Muscarinic acetylcholine active sites

Muscle, striated, skeletal, and smooth

Naloxone

Nazi persecution of scientists: Brücke; Dale denouncing; Feldberg; German physician refugees in England; Hitler’s gift to Great Britain and U.S.; Loewi; Rockefeller Foundation help with relocation

Nervous system: denervation supersensitivity; early theories of; secretion of messenger molecules

Neurohumoral secretions. See Chemical synaptic transmission (neurohumoral secretions); Neurotransmitters

Neuromodulators

Neuron doctrine

Neuron gap

Neurons: postganglionic; preganglionic

Neurophysiologists: opposition to chemical synaptic transmission; resistance to concept of neurohumoral secretions

Neurotransmitters in the brain: acetylcholine and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) accepted as; activators of first and second messengers; amino acids as; anatomy of brain synapses; as cause of changes in ion channels; chemical transmission influencing at greater distances than electrical; comparison to neuromodulators; complexity of substance/receptor interaction; criteria for recognition; dopamine as; electron microscope; electrophoresis; enkephalins; estimates of numbers at; feedback loops and compensatory mechanisms; Feldberg’s work on; fluorescent staining technique; Gaddums’ work on; histamine as; including some gasses; as inducers of anatomical changes; in mammals; mapping of various substances; neurophysiologists rejecting theories of; new techniques providing evidence; proliferation of possibilities; psychotropic drugs as impetus to study; push-pull cannula; receptors for; resolution of speed question; reuptake mechanism; speculation on origination; unpredictability of outcomes of experimental or clinical interventions; see also Electrical synaptic transmission; History of discovery of chemical transmission; Neurophysiologists; Receptors

Newsom, Mary

Nicotine; Langley’s study of; Langley’s work with

Nicotinic acetylcholine active sites

Nictitating membrane

Nitric oxide

Nobel Prize, winners in “Physiology or Medicine” category: Cannon’s miss; Carlsson in 2001; continued nominations for Cannon; Dale and Loewi in 1936; Dale nominating Loewi for; Eccles, Hodgkin, and Huxley in 1963; Greengard in 2000; Loewi’s prize money to German (Nazi) government; refugees from Nazi regime; von Euler, Axelrod, and Katz in 1970

Noradrenaline (norepinephrine): accepted as neurotransmitter; action on beta receptors; adoption of term, replacing “sympathin”; confusing presence in adrenal gland extracts; Dale’s comments on lack on insight; Dale’s proof of potency; early suspicion of differences from adrenaline; Furchgott and Ignarro in 1998; Loewi’s work on; mapping as brain neurotransmitter; opioids blocking release; as possible neurotransmitters in the brain; potency in mimicking sympathetic responses; Vogt’s work on; von Euler’s proof of secretion by sympathetic nerves

Norepinephrine. See Noradrenaline (norepinephrine)

Oliver, George

One-celled animals (protozoa)

Opiate receptors

Opium

Ordeal bean

Oxytocin

Palade, George

Palay, Sanford

Paramecia and protozoa

Parasympathetic division of autonomic nervous system

Parasympathomimetic drugs

Parker, George

Pavlov, Ivan

Peptides

Peristalsis, Cannon’s study of

Personality, affecting discovery timeline of chemical transmission

Pharmaceutical industry

A Pharmacological Approach to the Brain (Wilhelm Feldberg)

Pharmacology

Phrenic nerve

Physicians, German refugees in England

Physostigmine. See Eserine (physostigmine)

Pilocarpine

Popper, Karl

Postganglionic neurons

Preganglionic neurons

Proteins, Loewi’s work on

Protozoa and paramecia

Psychomatic medicine

Psychotropic drugs

Push-pull cannula

Radioactive substance attachment to chemicals in brain (radiolabeling)

Ramón y Cajal, Santiago

Receptors: adrenergic; autoreceptors; for brain neurotransmitters; complexity of substance/receptor interaction; Erlich’s “magic bullet” concept; identification with radiolabeling techniques; importance of cell membrane; Langley’s description of “receptor substances”; as macromolecules; numbering in 100s; numbers and sensitivity increasing or decreasing; of opiates; supersensitivity

Renshaw, Birdsey

Renshaw cells

Reserpine

Reticular theory

Reuptake mechanisms of brain neurotransmitters

Roberts, Eugene

Rockefeller Foundation: grant to Cannon; help with relocation of German scientists

Rockefeller Institute, offer to Dale

Roentgen, Wilhelm

Rogoff, Julius

Röntgen X-rays

Rosenblueth, Arturo: gifted assistant to Cannon; losses in persisting in two-sympathin theory; photo of; two-sympathin theory

Rutherford, Ernest

St. Anthony’s Fire

Schäfer, Edward

Schildkraut, Joseph

Schizophrenia

Scientists: Dale on need for openness; German physician refugees in England; Loewi on psychology of creativity; pleasures of research; risks and benefits of career in biotechnology industry; risks and benefits of career in pharmaceutical industry; see also Nazi persecution of scientists

Secretin

Serotonin

Sherrington, Charles Scott

Shock: Cannon’s WWI work on; Dale’s WWI work on

Silver nitrate, staining of nerve cells

Smooth muscle

Snyder, Solomon

Sodium bicarbonate

Sodium carrier mechanism

Sodium pump mechanism

Soviet Union

Speculation: criticism having catalytic effect on research; Dale’s hesitancy to indulge in; Darwin’s influence despite error on inheritance of acquired characteristics; gains plus potential risks; as inspired insight or seductive trap; Langley’s impatience with; Loewi’s artistic, dramatic temperament; quashed by belief in well-established “fact”

Splanchnic nerve

Staining techniques

Starling, Ernest

Stewart, George

Straub Cannula

Straub, Walther

Striated muscle

Strychnine

Sympathetic division of autonomic nervous system

Sympathin

Sympathomimetic and parasympathomimetic drugs

Synapses: anatomy of, in brain; cholinergic or adrenergic; tight or gap junctions; see also Chemical synaptic transmission

Synaptic vesicles

Synaptosomes

Takamine, Jokichi

Thalamic theory of emotions

Thyroid gland

Torpedo marmorata electric fish

Transmitter-gated ion channels

Two-sympathin theory of Cannon and Rosenblueth

Tyramine

Uterus: forced contractions of; relaxation of

Vagus nerve

Vane, John R.

Vasotonin

Vogt, Marthe

Von Euler, Ulf

Von Gudden, Bernard

Von Waldeyer, Wilhelm

“Voodoo death”

Vulpian, Alfred

Vulpian response

War of the Soups and the Sparks: Cannon’s defense of; constructive, friendly debates; continuation through 1940s and 1950s; disputes over existence of brain neurotransmitters; disputes over role of acetylcholine; disputes over speed of transmission; Eccles as leading opponent of chemical transmission; Eccles’ conversion; fueled by nonscientific reasons; in neurophysiologists’ resistance to concept of neurohumoral secretions; proposal and refutation of neural inhibition hypothesis and “eddy currents”; see also Chemical synaptic transmission; History of discovery of chemical transmission

The Way of an Investigator … (Walter Cannon)

Wellcome and Company

Wellcome, Henry Solomon

Wellcome Historical Medical Museum

Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories

Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories

Wellcome Trust Fund

Whittaker, V. P.

Wiener, Norbert

The Wisdom of the Body (Walter Cannon)

World War I: Cannon’s work on shock; Dale’s work on secondary wound shock and histamine; Elliott’s work on treatment of war-related injuries; interrupting critical research; research redirected toward war effort

World War II: research redirected toward war effort; see also Nazi persecution of scientists

X-rays